Port shines light on rail freight terminal plans

Construction of a $48 million rail freight terminal at Townsville is expected to start by July next year.

Port of Townsville has revealed further details of the ‘Pit to Port’ rail freight initiative as it welcomed Budget funding for the changes this week.

The State Government has pledged $30 million for a new common-user rail freight terminal in a raft of measures to aid mineral exports through Townsville from North-West Queensland, including Mount Isa Line improvements and freight charge discounts.

Subject to completion and approval of a detailed business case, Port of Townsville will contribute $18 million towards the new terminal, which is expected to be commissioned by early 2022.

The terminal project is expected to create 50 jobs during construction and 45 jobs ongoing, while reducing costs for mining companies and taking trucks off the roads.

Port of Townsville chief executive officer Ranee Crosby said the new rail freight terminal would help eliminate double handling.

Port of Townsville chief executive officer Ranee Crosby.

“Townsville is the primary logistics hub in Northern Australia, and important infrastructure investments like this will further enhance our competitiveness,’’ she said.

The terminal will be open-access, meaning multiple transport and logistics companies will be able to offer supply-chain services utilising the new facility.

Along with the rail siding, 6.4ha of port land will be developed to store up to 1200 containers.

After the completion of the detailed business case and all required government approvals, final design and specifications, construction of the $48 million terminal is expected to start by July next year and is projected to take 18 months to complete.

MAIN image: A conceptualised image of the planned infrastructure at Port of Townsville.